A federal ban of the wildly popular social media app TikTok is set to take effect on Sunday, unless a last-minute intervention occurs, or an American-owned business buys the company. The FBI, as well as several state authorities around the country, have said the app represents a national security threat, as it allows a foreign adversary to access the data of the 170 million Americans who use it.

Apart from the issue of national security, plenty of people, particularly sociologist Jonathan Haidt, have pointed out TikTok’s profound negative impact on kids and users in general. TikTok uses an advanced algorithm system to hook its users. Haidt and his research assistant, Zach Rausch, list out the multiple harms:

1. Addictive, compulsive, and problematic use
2. Depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, self-harm, and suicide
3. Porn, violence, and drugs
4. Sextortion, CSAM, and sexual exploitation
5. TikTok knows about underage use and takes little action

We show that company insiders were aware of multiple widespread and serious harms, and that they were often acting under the orders of company leadership to maximize engagement regardless of the harm to children. 

Executives within the company know the risks and adverse effects of TikTok but did little to nothing about it.

With the impending ban, TikTok users are now heading to another Chinese-owned app called RedNote, a video-sharing social media platform that has now topped app store charts. However, if RedNote increases in popularity in the United States, it could very well enjoy the same fate as TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.

National security is worrisome enough, but the evidence of TikTok’s harms on mental health is undeniable, admitted even by the company’s own insiders. We don’t even need a whistleblower. The whole thing is on record from the current employees.

Will there be a massive uptick in TikTok withdrawal symptoms? Does the exodus to RedNote illustrate how dependent we can become on these addictive social media apps? If TikTok is pretty much a digital drug, then it makes sense for users to absolutely freak out over its looming departure. What is going to take the app’s place in the lives of the people who scroll on it for hours each day and even depend on it for monthly revenue? For those who pause before heading to RedNote, or settling for Instagram reels or YouTube shorts, perhaps this can be a fruitful opportunity to collectively examine our addictive bents and choose to do something healthier with our time.